The Washington Post on January 3, 2007 published a widely circulated article by Ylan Q. Mui, "From Monitoring Teens to Minding Terrorists." The article reports that the "Homeland Security Institute" at George Washington University and a trade group known as the "International Council of Shopping Centers," is launching a program to train security mall guards as soldiers in the War on Terror. I was interviewed at some length for this article and, I think, helped the journalist see the humorous side to this story. The quote she uses from me only barely reflects how absurd, but instructive, this episode is. Of course the most important line in the article is the sentence pointing out that George Washington University will receive $2 million for this contract, probably representing funds recyclyed from the government through the International Council of Shopping Centers.
